Photo: Idawriter · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Castlewood works elsewhere
Castlewood has 276 jobs, against 604 working residents. The two grades for Castlewood are C− for jobs and income and D for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 8% of workers, next to 18% for Virginia as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Castlewood apart
Jobs & income in Castlewood: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Castlewood is better than 16% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Castlewood’s grade up (10.9%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.3%) is left out: Castlewood’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Castlewood could be anywhere from D− to B.
What Castlewood’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Castlewood, 2014 → 2024: 386 → 276. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Castlewood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Castlewood on a workday afternoon
On a workday 583 residents head out to work, 21 work right here, and 255 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Castlewood on a workday afternoon, 24% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The places Castlewood commutes to
Where Castlewood clocks in
8% of workers
7% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The trip to work from Castlewood: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Castlewood workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 500 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across Virginia: 83% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Castlewood’s commute, mile by mile
About 16% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Few in Castlewood walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Castlewood is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Castlewood near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 543 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.8% of Castlewood households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Castlewood’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Castlewood is 3,995th of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Great Falls Crossing VA | 1,414 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Occoquan VA | 1,078 | $134K | 2.1% | 5.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 176 | Haymarket VA | 1,602 | $174K | 3.2% | 4.0% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,993 | Penn Township PA | 1,165 | $59K | 15.6% | 1.8% | 1% | C− |
| 3,994 | East Palatka FL | 1,494 | $74K | 27.2% | 0.0% | 3% | C− |
| 3,995 | Castlewood VA | 1,357 | $61K | 10.9% | 1.3% | 3% | C− |
| 3,996 | New Franklin MO | 1,026 | $55K | 16.0% | 2.5% | 5% | C− |
| 3,997 | Luttrell TN | 1,118 | $42K | 22.0% | 1.6% | 0% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Castlewood, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
The towns around Castlewood
The biggest share goes to St. Paul (4%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Castlewood workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castlewood | – | C− | D | 27 min | $60,592 |
| St. Paul | 4% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. St. Paul: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Castlewood’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Castlewood: questions
What is the median household income in Castlewood?
$60,592 (±$26,127) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Castlewood?
10.9%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Castlewood?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Castlewood work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Abingdon (8%, 22 mi), Lebanon (7%, 12 mi), St. Paul (4%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Castlewood walkable?
Castlewood is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Castlewood without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Castlewood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Castlewood
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.